What does it take to get the girl? In his hit single, “Blame It,” Jamie Foxx (featuring T-Pain) pays tribute to one method of hooking up, involving nothing but a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.

“Blame It” is all about throwing away your cares and lowering your inhibitions—all for the sake of sex. Assuming that the woman wants a hookup, Foxx counters her hesitation with a list of drinks she could always blame her actions on the next morning. The alcohol and its effects (“feeling loose,” “feeling dizzy”) become the excuses to engage in risky behavior. If anything goes wrong, just blame it on the alcohol.

But what if you want more than drunken sex? Maybe you want the power to make your own responsible decisions without being influenced by alcohol or by those offering you another cup while “feeling on your butt.” While responsibility may not have a place in the glamorous picture these lyrics paint, responsibility has everything to do with the pleasure of making safe, sober sexual decisions—ones that won’t leave you with regret and a hangover.

-Anita Modi, 17, Staff Writer

Think drinking alcohol makes hooking up sexier? Think again. Teens are bombarded with messages that make alcohol and sex seem like a never-ending party. But we don’t live in the fantasy world of TV and movies—this is the real world.

Is it really sexier to be so drunk that you forget about birth control and condoms (maybe even your sexual partner’s name!) and have a pregnancy or STD panic the next day? That doesn’t sound sexy at all; that sounds like a nightmare.

There’s a new public service announcement in the UK urging teens to think twice before mixing alcohol and sex. Check it out, and keep these questions in mind as you watch:

• Who suffers the consequences of mixing alcohol and sex? The guy, the girl or both?
• Whose fault is it for having unprotected sex? The guy, the girl or both?
• Whose responsibility is it to practice safer sex? The guy, the girl or both?

Choosing not to have sex is the only way to completely avoid pregnancy or STDs. But if you choose to have sex, both you and your partner have to be able to make important decisions, like getting tested and using condoms and birth control. Throwing alcohol into that equation is a recipe for risk—risk of pregnancy, STDs and maybe even heartache.